Eric Mangini's $25,000 fine for his role in hiding Brett Favre's injured elbow in 2008 may have become more expensive in the aftermath of the publicity surrounding "Spygate" and Mangini's role in that investigation.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Why did the league come down hard on the New York Jets and former coach Eric Mangini for covering up Brett Favre’s biceps injury last year?

“It goes hand in hand with Spygate,” said a league source familiar with the process.

Mangini was at the center of the Spygate scandal in 2007 that brought down Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. He allegedly turned in Belichick for having a Patriots’ aide videotape Jets defensive signals in a game. That’s against NFL rules.

Belichick was fined $500,000 and the Patriots penalized $250,000 plus a first-round draft pick for the incident.

Shortly afterwards, Commissioner Roger Goodell issued strong directives holding NFL team owners, executives and head coaches accountable for maintaining the integrity of the game. Each week, and also at the conclusion of each season, teams must certify in writing that they have complied with all rules and league policies.

The Jets and Mangini violated the league injury reporting rules by failing to list Favre on their injury report even though he had a torn biceps over the last month of last season.

That was one mistake. The other one was, in effect, lying to the league at the end of the season by filing an affidavit saying they violated no rules.

This week, the Jets were fined $75,000, Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum $25,000 and Mangini $25,000 for covering up the injury. The size of the fines were unprecedented.

“I can attest what the commissioner’s doing,” the league source said.

“When you make a mistake, he’s going to make [the penalty] so stiff that it scares everyone else. Now you have people running around saying, ‘Let’s make sure this injury report is correct.’

“I know I wouldn’t want to give up $25,000 out of my pocket. This is a very serious offense.”

David Zalubowski/Associated PressThe aura surrounding Denver's old Mile High Stadium is something Tony Grossi misses in the Broncos' new stadium.

THE KICKOFF

Football stadiums don’t have the charm of baseball stadiums. Only two stand out in my 25 years of covering the NFL — and one is no longer with us.Lambeau Field in Green Bay is the Wrigley Field of the NFL. Before it was torn down in 2001, Denver’s Mile High Stadium was its Fenway Park.Mile High was the most vertical football stadium I’ve been in. The press box seemed to hang over the home team’s sideline. The amenities in that rickety, Erector-set stadium were sparse. But, boy, could that place rock.I’ll never forget the Browns’ AFC Championship Game there following the 1987 season. Best second half of football I’ve ever seen, with Bernie Kosar outdueling John Elway.Every time the Broncos scored, or made a key stop on defense, the stomping of the fans made the stadium literally shake. And when Earnest Byner fumbled in the last minute-plus of the game, securing Denver’s win, I actually held on to a table fearing the press box was going down. It shook that much. Now that’s atmosphere you don’t get on TV.When the Browns play in 9-year-old Invesco Field Sunday, it won’t be the same.— Tony Grossi

For years, former commissioner Paul Tagliabue turned his head when certain coaches (Bill Parcells, for one) made a mockery of the league injury reports. Parcells’ disciples, led by Belichick, adopted the practice as they became head coaches. Soon enough, other coaches followed suit under the logic, “If he can do it, so can I.”

Goodell is trying to reign in the widespread practice.

“You can’t have 30 people in compliance and let two get away with it,” the source said.

The violation and subsequent fines never would have come to light if Favre had not said during the week of the Browns game that the Jets knew of his biceps injury and encouraged him to play through it.

The reason the fine followed Mangini to Cleveland, said the source, was because “you cannot have an injury report without the head coach knowing about it.”

No D.A. to Carolina: In the off-season, we mentioned Carolina as a logical team that might pursue a trade for Derek Anderson. Starter Jake Delhomme, 34, was coming off a five-interception game that submarined the Panthers in the playoffs and none of the team’s backups had starter potential.

Further, Carolina’s top two offensive coaches -- Jeff Davidson and Rip Scherer -- knew Anderson well from their time in Cleveland. Davidson left before Anderson’s big year in 2007, but Scherer stayed through ‘08.

Instead, GM Marty Hurney re-signed Delhomme to essentially a three-year deal with $12.5 million in guarantees. Delhomme had an awful first game -- four interceptions and a lost fumble returned for a touchdown -- creating panic in a team with Super Bowl aspirations.

The Panthers don’t have a first-round pick (traded in April to Philadelphia to take defensive end Everette Brown in Round 2) and will be hesitant to further decrease their stockpile. They also gave up a seventh to the Browns for defensive tackle Louis Leonard.

They may be smart, but they’re old: Mangini’s program may be in its infancy, but his team is one of the league’s oldest.

The league’s annual analysis of opening day rosters shows the Browns with 16 players age 30 and over. That’s tied for most in the AFC with Denver and New England and second to Washington’s 17. The NFL average is 10.6 players 30 and over.

The Browns’ overall average age drops considerably in the rankings because Mangini balanced the older guys with 12 players classified as rookies or first-year players (first year on a final roster). Only three teams have more of those -- Miami, Jacksonville and Carolina.

The Browns’ average of 4.68 years NFL experience ranks third in the AFC (behind New England and Pittsburgh) and 10th overall. Cincinnati is the least-experienced team (3.77 average) and Washington is the most-experienced (5.55).

In terms of age, Green Bay is youngest (25.7 years old) and Washington is the oldest (27.6).

The Browns’ average age is 26.74, slightly older than the NFL average of 26.61.

Quick hits: Rookie linebacker James Laurinaitishad 14 tackles for the Rams in his NFL debut. ... As a result of a broken rib to Donovan McNabb, the Eagles re-signed Jeff Garcia. But Kevin Kolbwill get the start in McNabb’s place Sunday. ... Kansas City’s Brodie Croyle, who filled in for injured Matt Cassellast week, is now 0-9 as a starting quarterback. ... Tennessee gave up 100 yards to a running back only two times in 17 games last year. Both times it was Houston’s Steve Slaton, who faces the Titans Sunday.

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